Sweden has cancelled 13 planned offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea on security grounds.
The government in Stockholm, a new NATO member, announced on Monday that it would no longer issue any licences for the construction and operation of the farms, which were to extend off the Swedish east coast down to the Öresund strait near Denmark.
Swedish armed forces said the offshore wind turbines would interfere with sensors and radar, among other things, and thus impair the country’s defence capabilities.
For example, enemy cruise missiles or submarines could be detected later or less easily, Defence Minister Pål Jonson warned at a news conference.
He referred to the tense security situation following Russia’s war in Ukraine and the fact the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad is on the Baltic Sea just like Sweden.
One wind farm on the Swedish west coast has been given the green light, while 10 other applications for the expansion of wind power at sea are currently being reviwed by Stockholm.
